New Perspective
by PaperBulletProductions
Summary: What the hell was I suppose to say? "Hi, Im Kagome, you know the daughter of your suicidal sister? By the way, Im a former gang memeber. Im into drugs, alcohol & sex. Oh & I recently killed a guy. So where will I be sleeping?" Umm..maybe not.
1. Scars Are Forever

_Hey everyone!_

_This story was originally One life to live, but I didn't really like the way it was headed so I decided to rewrite the whole thing. Hopefully this version comes out a whole lot better and youll all like it! Well tell me what you think, and if youre just gonna flame me, don't bother :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi does. So don't sue! ^_^_

xXxXxXx

_**Chapter 1- **_

"What am I suppose to do now?", I asked him.

There was of course no reply.

_**"Answer me damnit!!"**_

The strength left in my body had barely been enough to help me crawl over to his still form. He wouldn't move. A sob escaped my lips and I wiped away the blood and tears mixed together on my cheeks. "I'm so sorry....", I whispered down to him, wincing at the sight of his crippled form. The night had suddenly become cold and silent, and the smell of death had wrapped itself around us.

It wasn't suppose to end like this. None of it was suppose to happen. It just hurt so much to think that this is how it would all end. This was how I would die. It wasn't as though this was the first time I had come across a situation like this.

But...this time, things were diffrent.

In that little moment, I was no longer the tough, hard headed, shallow eighteen year old that walked around the city as if she owned the whole damn place. For once, I was scared. I was lonely. And I was lost. I didn't have anyone. The one person in my life that I trusted more than anyone, was gone.

Forever.

There was really nothing left to do. The only choice left now was death. Calm and peaceful death. Another sob escaped me and I laughed at myself, realizing how new the tears were for me. I wasn't the type of person that cried. For anything. In fact I couldn't even remeber when it had been that I had last cried. Probably because I thought it was pointless. Useless. There's no need for it, if something bad happens you get over it. You don't just sit around crying like a baby and feeling sorry for yourself. And yet, here I was.

_'First time for everything, I guess..' _I thought to myself bitterly and moved my hand to gently wipe the blood from his face, my other hand still pressed against my side, where the bullet still lay. There was a lot of blood coming from me. From my body. And the pain was almost too much to bare.

I was going to die, of that I was sure. I figured it might be easier to just get it over with.

The wind began howling and hissing its way through the dark abandoned alley, trying to offer some comfort to the dreaded night. I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy that little bit of comfort as it brushed my hair out of my eyes, and his. It was late, I already knew that. Just how late, I didn't have the slightest clue. I had stopped checking the time a long while ago.

Things like that just weren't important anymore. My life was over. It literally no longer had any meaning. Which meant that there was no longer anything or anybody around to keep clawing through life for. No longer any need to try and survive this forbidden hell hole. Ideas began swimming in my head when I reached for the black object by his side.

The gun felt cool under my fingertips, and holding it now, I didn't realize how hard my hand was shaking as I brought the gun up to my temple. I pulled the safety off and let my finger linger over the trigger. So this was it. This was how I would die? I saw it coming, I guess. I knew from the beginning what Id be getting myself into. I knew how dangerous it was. I knew that if I didnt find my own way to get killed, _**he**_ would just do it himself. _Eventually. _And me, being the dumbass that I am actually believed I could handle it. Believed I would live. My hand began shaking faster before it realease the gun, letting it fall back onto the cold, black concrete.

I couldn't do it. Why couldn't I do it?

I wasn't afraid of dying, and I knew just how much I deserved to die. I didn't need anyone to explain to me how he should still be alive. To explain to me how long it had taken for him to come to his senses and get away, and how I had brought him back into this godamned mess. My entire body was in pain. The kind of pain that would make you want to kill yourself and get away from it all. Maybe I was just too much of a coward.

Yupp, that was probably it.

I suddenly began remembering home, back when I had such a thing. I remembered how we were all a family. We weren't the perfect family, but we were a family, nonetheless. We had dinner together on good nights and we had bed times and cartoons and all that stuff. That was back when everything was good, and the only thing I had to worry about was my mean ass hell third grade teacher and her stupid ways of giving homework.

We had a cat. A big fat one. I can't remember its name though. Just that it was big and fat and lazy.

I sat there. Thinking of everything that had just happened in the past few hours I realized that all of this could have been avoided. He could have still been alive right now. It had all happened in what seemed like so little time that it was hard to believe that it _had_ all actually happened. That every little incident I had come across that night had been real. It was just too much. It was too hard to believe, to understand. It _had _happened, and it _was_ real.

But it sure as hell wasnt suppose to end like this. It wasn't suppose to end like this, and yet...here I was. Here _he_ was. Dead.

_Fucking dead. _

And it was all my fault.

_****Flashback****_

We had to get out of there. Now. It wouldn't be very long at all before that fucker sent his men after us. If we didn't get out quick, we were dead meat. I had scrambled into the apartment, practically knocking the door down as I began crying out his name.I didn't even know if he was home.

I had really hoped he was, because if he wasn't, it meant they had already killed him, and if he was but didn't answer, it_...also _meant they had already killed him.

And how lucky I had been that I found him there, and breathing too. The look on his face expressed horror when he saw me burst throught the door. But that was to be expected. Who wouldn't freak after seeing a phsycotic looking girl with a pistol in her palm and blood stains on her clothes? And again, how lucky had I been that most of the blood wasn't even mine?

_Yeahh_...point for Kagome.

After making sure I was actually alright, after realizing I was pretty much fine, he began his questioning. _**"What the hell happened?!"**_

_**"Are you alight?!? Kagome, answer me?! What happened to you?!!"**_

Once I had him assured that I was alright, I had told him what was going on. I knew he would be mad. He would be downright fruious when I finally told him what I had been keeping secret for a while now.

Well I told him.

He wasn't mad. He wasn't furious. Those words don't come close to describing how he reacted.

Let me tell you, it wasn't pretty.

But trying to explain the way he looked, how his eyes darkened and his veins seemed to be popping out of his head, all that stuff, well it wouldn't be easy. So I'll just skip the part where he wouldn't stop with his yelling at me and pointing out my stupidity in ways and words that I didn't even know existed. Nor did I really understand, for that matter.

After he ran out of breath, I told him everything he needed to know. Everything that had happened. I told him what to do, and although he didn't want to, he did it anyways.

"This is never going to work.", he said simply. I could tell by his tone that he was ready to give up.

I didn't answer as I hurridley did the same as he was doing. Stuffing as much as I could into my bag, then I ran up to my dresser and pushed it to the side. I lifted a square piece of carpet from the floor and pulled out a rather large brown leather bag, then threw it onto the bed. He eyed the strange thing before a look of realization crossed his face.

I knew he already knew what was inside it. Cash. Lots of it. And it was gonna help us get out of there.

"Please tell me you didn't get this from him", I still said nothing, and went back to packing.

"Damnit, Kagome! _Are you fucking crazy?!?! _Why is it that you're not smart enough to learn from my goddamned mistakes huh? I told you. I told you not to do this!! I told yo-"

"I know!! I know, _okay? _It's just that...I couldn't keep living like this, dont you understand?", I looked over at him,wishing that he could look at things the way I was trying to. In a somewhat positive, assured manner.

"I needed the money! We need this money! It- it helped me get you out of prison and now its going to help the both of us get out of here!! Don't you see? Now we can finally live a normal life. We'll move somewhere far away where he'll never find us! Okay? Somewhere safe where-" He grabbed me by the wrists tightly, a stern look on his face and it was hard for me to look him in the eyes when he was like this.

It always had been.

"Don't you _ever_ say that. He _is_ going to find us, Kagome. God, dont you get it? We're fucking dead, Kagome.", he said, releasing my wrists and, like in every bad situation we'd ever been in, he began pacing.

After I finally managed to calm him down, I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Hey, hey look at me", I said when he averted his eyes."Listen. We _are_ going to be ok. Arlight? We're finally together and now we have a chance to get away. I've got more than enough money to get us both out of this damn city, and once were out we wont let him find us. Okay? Isn't this what you've always wanted? To be free of all this? Well this is our only chance! You know a lot more about this stuff than I do, So I need you to help me get through this._ Please_. I need you. And I know that you need me."

His faced still held that stern look, but he seemed to be a bit more relaxed. He sighed heavily before looking down at me.

"Okay.", he murmered. It seemed as though his instincts had suddenly kicked in. Yeahh, he knew exactly what to do. I was good, but I would never be as good as he was. He grabbed me by the shoulders and gave orders.

"Now I need you to do exactly as I say, alright?", I nodded. "Grab all the money youve got and put it in a seperate bag. Then I need you to..."

I listened as carefully as I could. After telling me everything I had to do, he ran over to the bed and grabbed all our things before heading out the door. "Oh and Kagome?", I looked back at him.

"Were gonna need another car.", he said, and smirked. I smiled. "Im already on it.", I replied, then walked over to the bedroom window and slid it open.

_'This is going to work'_, I thought as I climbed down the fire escape.

_"This is never going to work.", _he had said only moments ago.

He was wrong.

We had to get away. We were going to. And yet, there was still something in my gut that told me that that was all a lie. But I couldn't just give up now. I had come so far along in the last three years. All the shit that I had done, all the hard work...it was going to pay off now. Because I had the most important person in my life with me. After three long, dreadful years of working for _him_, and I finally had my family back. Well at least, what was left of it. Which really wasn't much at all.

Still, I had to keep telling myself that we would get out of this. That we would both be okay in the end. That maybe, after this night, we could both finally be happy.

_****End Of Flashback****_

I looked up and noticed the dark clouds that were starting to form over the sky. I could hear the low rumbling of thunder and sighed when I felt the rain drops on my face, mixing together with the tears that just wouldnt stop. Okay, so here I was. Alone in an empty alley in the middle of the night. My forehead was dripping blood and I remembered that they had thrown me pretty hard. I was in so much pain. And it just wouldn't stop.

I was helpless.

I laughed. _"Idiot.", _I whispered. "You've got to stop feeling so fucking sorry for yourself. It's pointless. And you sound so stupid..." And I was talking to myself.

_Great_.

I must have moved the wrong way when I tried to get closer. I cried in pain, and pressed my palm tighter against the bullet wound in my side, which seemed to have gushed out even more blood than it had before. The gashes in my stomach looked disgusting. The wounds were covered in blood and dirt. Probably from my long journey of crawling I had done earlier. My head began pounding again, and my vision began to blur.

Again I cried out in pain, then fell over onto his side, barely conscious and angry that it had taken me this long to die, and I still wasn't even _all the way dead._

I could hear the faint wailing of sirens before everything went black.

xXxXxXx

What are those things called? You know those little rooms you see on TV that police and detective people use when they're questioning a suspect? It has a ginormous window type thing on the side that lets you see into the room, and if youre inside of it all you see is your reflection. Ever seen one of those? Like on TV or something? Well I was sitting in one. Not fun.

Nope.

"Well Ms. Higurashi, I believe we've come to a decision.", the man said as he walked in, closing the door behind him. He was some kind of FBI agent or something.

He had a badge. Maybe he was a sherriff. I don't know.

I looked up from my nails over to him, a lazy look on my face. I was just waiting for it to be over. It had been more than fourteen weeks since that incident, and I had spent those long fourteen weeks in the hospital and in therapy. So it's not as though the police really ever had a chance to question me and all that junk until now.

Those fuckers really _had_ messed me up bad.

When the police finally got there that night, I was barely alive, which really surprised me. It makes me wonder whether or not they had really wanted me dead, or if they were just trying to "punish" me for what I did.

I had a broken leg, and three cracked ribs. I had still had the bullet in my side from earlier that night, which surprisingly hadn't hit anything important. It was by far the worst experience of my life.

But none of it even came close to the pain I felt on the inside.

The pain and sorrow and guilt that would just...never go away.

I had gotten so many blows to the head it was a real shock to everyone at the hospital that I wasn't as fucked up in the brain as I should have been. And as soon as I could walk on my own, and handle myself completly, I was taken out of the hospital and brought to where I was now.

I'm sure the cops were so ready to get rid of me. Today wasn't exactly my first encounter with any of them. But apparently they had no idea what they were going to do with me now.

They weren't exactly sure whether or not they should lock me up. I had told them that any damage I had done that night was entirely self defense, and I guess that really wasn't a lie. Of course they had no chioce to believe me considering the condition I had been in when they found me there, lying unconscious on top of a dead, bloody corpse.

The cops had been after "them" for a while now. Them being the son of a bitches that had caused me all this pain. And of course when the police got there that night, they were no where to be found. Before I was brought into this room, I had heard some investigator people saying that it would be too dangerous to continue the investigation without some better leads as to where they were now. They had also said it would be too dangerous to even continue the investigation with me still around.

Maybe they'd throw me in jail.

"..Kagome? Kagome are you listening to me?", I looked up at the guy, annoyed. "What?", he sighed and sat down in the chair across from me, on the other side of the metal table. "I said we've come to a decision.''

Well I had heard that part.

"I don't think I need to explain to you that this guy's dangerous. You should know better than anyone about what he's capable of and looking back at all that's happpend I'm sure you feel a lot of anger towards this man." I looked over at my reflection in the glass/window thingy and shrugged. "I don't feel anything.", I mumbled.

That wasn't true. I didn't feel anger towards Naraku, the biggest and most dangerous man in the entire state. I actually didn't think there were words to describe my feelings towards him. Or how much I wanted to make him suffer. Make him suffer like he had made us suffer. Make him feel pain, lots of it, and then kill him.

Slowly, painfully. To torture him little by little until every last breath in his body was gone.

What I really wanted was revenge.

Of course my therapist was convinced that I was finally past that stage, but I don't think that that's humanly possible. I don't think its possible to not want the kind of justice you feel you deserve. And I felt that I deserved to see him die.

"Well we feel that the kind of life you live here, it isn't safe. Not for you or your family.", I glared at him. "Well I'm still alive aren't I? That should prove that I can take care of myself just fine. I don't need anyone." Crossing my arms, I looked at him straight in the eye and he sighed.

"Well I understand why you feel that way. But this is the closest we've ever gotten to catching that scumbag and if we were to let you go you'd only be getting in the way. Not to mention that you'd be putting yourself at an even higher risk of getting killed. That being said, we've decided that we're going to-"

"-Throw me in prison?", I asked, finishing for him. He looked at me, then pulled out some papers. "Actually, we're sending you away.", he replied.

I blinked.

"Woah, wait a second. What?"

"Well since pretty much all of your family here is gone, and your home is now-"

"What's your fucking point?", I asked, my temper rising at his words. "Well, the only family you have left is in California. You have an aunt there and she has agreed to take you in." I blinked rapidly, trying to get his words straight in my head.

Was this guy mother fucking _insane???_

_**"Are you insane?!?!?!", **_I yelled as I jumped up from my chair, my finger nails digging into the table. "Now Kagome, calm down. Have a seat-"

"No I will not calm down! Why the fuck can't I stay here?? My friends are here, my entire life revolves around this place! I'm not afraid of him or anyone else!"

He tried his best to get me to sit back down. "I understand that, Kagome but it's just too-"

"Too what? Dangerous? Well I've been living like this practically my whole life, and I've handled it every step of the way. You've got to be fucken crazy if you think I'm gonna let you send me off to some dumbshit family that I've never even met just so you can try and solve a case that you've been working on for thirteen years?!?! Well you can just go ahead and shove that idea up your-"

_**"That's enough!!", **_he yelled.

His reaction startled me a bit. He wasn't finished. "Your aunt is a single mother raising two kids all on her own. This woman can barely afford to pay her bills and she is still willing to take in her sister's daughter. The former drug addict that prefers to waste her life getting drunk and sleeping around like a little _whore!" _

_Ouch_.

It's not like it was anything that I hadn't already heard before, but it still stung a little. After all this time, things like that still hurt. The sherriff seemed to be calming down a bit. "I-Im sorry, Kagome. I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, ya did.", I whispered, looking back over to the reflection in the glass.

The bruises on my face were almost gone. And the rest of my body was almost completly healed. But to me, the scars were still there. They were the ones that would never heal, no matter how much I wished they would. And that night...it seemed to replay itself in my head whenever it could. It was a nightmare I could never forget.

A nightmare that was permanetly scarred on every inch of my body, whether the scars were visible or not. And sometimes it still felt as though it was to much too comprehend, too much to bare. At times it was, back when I was in the hospital. At times I went a little crazy. At times I had a breakdown or two. At times I threw things, hit stuff...and people. Mainly nurses...

And at times, I had no idea how to deal with it at all. Beacuse no matter what I did, the scars were still there.

They would always be there. As a reminder of some sort.

"When do I leave?", I asked, still starring at my reflection.

"Tomorrow morning.", he answered, sliding over the papers in front of him. "Your plane leaves at eight. It's a seven hour flight to California. And you'll have to take cab to get to you're aunt's. I'll have an officer drive you to the airport.", he said, then got up and walked over to me, setting a packet of papers in front of me. "Make sure you fill these out before then." I looked at them, not in the least bit interested in what they were.

"These are just some custody papers that both you and your aunt need to sign. There's also a few medical forms that need to be taken care of."

I was eighteen years old. I had spent my last birthday in the hospital, surrounded by....well, no one. I did have friends here in the city. But I'm sure that if they feared for their lives then they would think twice about trying to get in touch with me again. After everything that had happened, they knew how dangerous it would be. Whether or not Naraku knew I was still alive, I didn't know.

So if it meant anyone else would lose their lives under his hand, I'd rather not see any of them ever again.

But, like I said, I was now eighteen years old. Which meant I was now considered an adult. So I didn't need a legal guardian or someone to take care of me. But according to the hospital, I was still very unstable and unable to take care of myself. I was a melt down waiting to happen.

A ticking bomb.

_'Who knows what she'll do if she's left alone. She's a disaster waiting to happen.'_

_'If you ask me, she'd be better off dead. Just look at all the problems she's caused in this city alone. I almost feel sorry for the family that has to take her in!'_

_'The girl has no self control. I'll bet she's capable of taking her own life if she ever gets the chance.'_

One of the reasons I hated some of my nurses. Not all, but some. They were shit talkers, and I could tell that most of them were scared of me.

I remember, during one of my little fits, I hit one in the face with one of my cruches. I didn't care though. She was never nice to me either.

The sherriff looked down at me, then pulled out a card from his front pocket and handed it to me."If you need anything, don't hesitate in calling."

I looked at the card now in my hand, but still said nothing. "We will find him.", he squeezed my shoulder lightly. He said it with confidence, but I knew it would never happen.

"Stay safe, Kagome", he told me, then began walking towards the door. It was funny how he actually believed that they _could _catch him.

It _was _funny.

Well, to me.

"Oh and Kagome?", I looked over at him, but said nothing.

"I-It wasn't your fault. You know that right?" Still, I said nothing. And neither did he as he walked out of the room.

I looked back at my reflection.

The scars seemed more noticble now.

xXxXx

Okay so..there it is...my first chapter. Hopefully it wasn't too bad. I'm not very good with the whole depressing stuff. But let me know what ya think ?

_**-Thanks :)**_


	2. Wheelchairs Make Crappy Getaway Cars

xXxxXxXx

"Miss? Miss we're here."

I did my best to open heavy, tired eyes and tried to take in my surroundings.

"What the hell?", I mumbled groggily, but the flight attndant must not have heard. Finally getting my eyes in focus, I looked around me again.

Many people were already shuffling out of the plane, a few still grabbing their things. Turning my head towards the window, I realized how late it had gotten. How long had it been? Six...seven hours maybe? Well it seemed like a long time to be stuck in such a cramped little seat. Luckily, I got to sit by myself, though. But in all actuality, the flight was pretty suckish. Well, in my opinion. The food there was actually worse than my cooking. And that was really saying something.

_Seriously._

I did my best to get up and out of my seat, only to plop back down on it. It was safe to say that I wasn't as strong as I used to be. I was out of shape. I guess that would happen when you're stuck in a hospital bed for four months. It was kinda sad. Back when I was in the hospital, I was to get as much rest as possible. And after a long day of physical therapy, which was considered "exercise" to my therapist, I was always pretty exhausted. Sleeping was kind of something I did whenever I had nothing else to do. And since there was always nothing to do, I really had no other option.

I really hated doctors.

And shots. God, I hated the damn shots.

I hated both so badly....

A few times I tried getting out. Of the hospital, I mean. I probably would've made it too if I could actually walk properly.

But of course, there _were_ other ways...

I once tried escaping in my super fast wheelchair....

It was a fun day.

_*****flashback*****_

_"Kagome stop!"_

_"What in the world is that girl up to now?"_

_I was almost there. The glass doors of the hospital exit shone light into the hallway, and to me, it was like the light you see at the end of the tunnel. The light that promised freedom from such a horrid place as I had been in for so long. I was so close. In a few seconds I'd be able to push through those doors and 'walk' out into the open world, where it didn't smell like old people...and death._

_The doors were right in front of me..._

_They were within my reach, a few more inches and I'd bust out of there.._

_Booom._

_Boom Boom._

_"........."_

_Boom.. Boom.. Boom.. Boom.. Bo-_

_"Stop it right now Kagome the doors are locked! Kagome, did you hear me? Stop ramming yourself into the glass you're going to hurt yourself!"_

_Have you ever seen the movie, The Descent? **[A/N: You might get it if you have! Srry if you haven't! ^_^]**_

_Yeahh..._

_"Goodness, Kagome. If you don't stop with all this you'll get yourself seriously hurt!", one of the nurses yelled as she tried to get me back to my room. But I wouldn't let her. "Stop this madness at once!", another yelled as she tried to help._

_"Madness? You think I'm mad?!?! Who locks the goddamned doors of a hospital?!?!"_

_More nurses came to help get me back. I stuggled to get out of their grasp, I wailed my arms out like a mad man and ended up hitting a few of them in the face. I saw my chance and took it, and eventually I managed to escape their harassing. I pushed the wheels of the chair as hard as I could, heading the opposite direction. I'd make it._

_I would._

_I was going so fast, nothing could stop me._

_Nothing._

_Except....maybe a medicine cart. A god damned medicine cart and its stupid hard metal exterior._

_I crashed into it, and fell over, chair and all._

_"Shiiiit...", I moaned as I lay there, practically flipped over in a very very strange position, my leg throbbing in pain._

_'It's no use..', I thought, and sighed as the nurses rushed over to me, lecturing me on my behavior._

_It was pure and utter hell..._

_*****end of flashback*****_

That was really a terrible time in my life, though not nearly as horrible as my days back in training.

Back then, I didn't fear for my freedom, I feared for my life.

_***** another flashback [heehee :]***** _

_"Now there's another route, but you have to take a right down the next exit.", the voice in my ear was calmer now, the little buzzing of the device had ceised._

_My first day on the job, and I was already losing it. It was hard and it was frustrating. I couldn't think, I couldn't focus. But I was feeling very very frantic. One more mistake and I was dead._

_I could see the headlights behind me and immediately pushed harder on the gas, swiveling around a semi, I sped towards my destination, quickly turning towards the next exit that had caught my eye. The traffic was the worst part._

_How the hell does someone get through like this?_

_Various cars beeped at me as I sped past them, but my attention was so far away from them that it was as though I heard nothing at all. Nothing but the crazy, speeding jet black car behind me. I did my best not to cringe when I both heard and felt bullets pounding into the rear of the car. A single bullet went through the back window and out the front, missing me by a mere foot._

_It was too much._

_**"Wait wait!** **I can't! I can't do this! I can't do this! I can't I can't! Tell them to stop!! Please, Make them st-"**_

_**"ENOUGH**!", the buzzing device in my ear screeched. I cringed from that too._

_"Like it or not, you are going to finish this!! Now if you value your life I suggest you stop your whining and pay attention, you little **wench**! Do I make myself clear?", I couldn't answer. The bullets kept coming._

_"I said, do I make myself clear?"_

_"........."_

_**"Answer me!!"**_

_"Yes."_

_Once again, the buzzing stopped._

_The bullets didn't, though._

_I listened. I didn't have any other choice in such a situation as this. But it felt so goddamned impossible. I wasn't ready for this. Any of it. It just wasn't something a girl like me should be wasting her time with. But I had to, for I needed this job, so it didn't matter whether I liked it or not. I just had to try harder. A lot harder. But still, it terrified me to no end to think that this was how I'd be spending my life. It scared me to think that if this wasn't just a "test", if it hadn't been "training" or "practice" as they all liked to call it, I'd be dead a long time ago._

_"You should be glad I told them to go easy on you.", he snapped. Well I wasn't._

_I'd be 'glad' if they'd just stop their shooting all together._

_"How do you ever expect to work for me when you can't even complete such a simple task as this?"_

_"I...I don't..know", I mumbled, and I had hoped he hadn't heard me._

_I wasn't ready for this. I wasn't up for this. _

_Near death situations: this was my very first of the thousands I'd have to face later on._

_My very first, and I was already sick of it._

_Dying? I could die._

_I figured I probably would._

_It was a huge risk to take._

_I was only sixteen._

_*****end of flashback*****_

The flight attendant helped me up and even offered to carry my bags. I didn't think I looked that weak, but I said nothing as I got off the plane, using the side rail to steady my wobbly legs.

The flight attendant set my things down next to me and smiled. "Have a good night, Miss.", he said before walking away. I looked down at my bags then up towards the parking lot. I saw no cab. In fact there were barely any cars around at all.

_'Now what?'_

xXxXxXxX

Two hours later, and still no cab. The sherriff had told me that if I my aunt was able to, she'd pick me up herself, but she didn't come either. Maybe she regretted ever agreeing to take me in after all. I don't really blame her though..

I spent those two hours sitting down in between some fat guy that would not stop snoring [I call him Mr. Snores A Lot] and another guy that was really intrested in his damn newspaper.

When a police officer walked inside the aiport doors, I'll admit, I freaked a little. his eyes were searching the building, though he didn't seem to be on his guard or anything like that. Well, like I said, I freaked. Even more so when his eyes landed on me.

Having no idea what to do, I grabbed the nearest object, which had been the man next to me's newspaper, and hid behind it, ignoring the man's retort towards my actions.

But I wasn't fast enough.

The cop was already walking towards me, and although I slid down and huddled up in my chair to hide myself even more, I knew it was too late.

When he was finally in front of me, he pulled the newspaper down from my face and raised an eyebrow at my strangely akward postion.

"I didn't do anything.", I mumbled as I looked up at him. I couldn't help not saying that. Call it a habit.

He smirked.

"You're not in trouble, Kagome Higurashi.", he said. "Your cab's here", I quickly got out of my uncomfortable postion. I looked down. "Ummm...oh, uh a-alright then.", I said and shoved the paper back in the man's face, still ignoring his gayish attitude.

The cop offered to help me with my things and although I refused, he did it anyway. We both walked out the doors and into the outside world, which had gotten dark over the last few hours...

The cab was waiting right outside the doors, and as I loaded my things into the trunk, I did my best to ignore the words coming out of the guy's mouth.

"I'm the police chief of this place, and I've heard a lot about you."

I kept silent and slammed down the trunk of the cab. I didn't even look at him as I got into the car, slamming the door even louder. He bent down to look at me.

"I'll be watching you Kagome Higurashi. Try not to get into too much trouble.", he winked.

I gave him the most sarcastic smile I could muster up.

"Oh I'll do my best.", I replied in a fake voice. He chuckled at my response and took a step back as the cab was about to leave.

"Have a good night, Kagome Higurashi.", he called out before I drove away.

Alright, so I knew now that there'd be eyes all over this place, waiting to catch me in some type of crime. Cops were like that back home too.

Home.

_'It's not home anymore_.', I thought to myself. It had stopped being home way too long ago.

I sighed and leaned my head against the car window.

_Home.._

The word lingered in my head as I wondered whether or not I'd ever be able to call this place home. It wasn't home.

It was new.

It was diffrent.

I hated change.

Just my luck, huh?

I pulled out my mp3 player, figuring it would help me relax.

And also, because I loved it.

_''What's life when you don't have music?"_ , _**he**_ said to me once. It was a long time ago. Back when he was involved with Naraku. Back when he was fighting. Fighting for all of us, and then, after a while, fighting for me.

Just me.

The only thing he had left.

He once read me this:

_"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." _

It was a quote by John Lennon. He told me about it once upon a time, but I never found out who the guy that said it actually was until a I turned fourteen. And I had absolutley no idea what it meant when he read it to me seven years ago. Thinking back at it, I realized just how true it was.

Peace.

Poeple were to afraid to stand up for it. They were to afraid to want it.

To fight for it.

It wasn't worth fighting.

Not anymore.

Very slowly, I let my mind wander off into the oh so familiar comfort of sleep.

xXxXxXxXx

**Well...I know this chapter was kinda short, but my mind went a little blank as I was writing this. So review! Hmm...I'm still kinda iffy on how Inuyasha and Kagome should meet. What do you think? Oh and by the way, I'm still taking suggestions for story names!!!!!**

**-ThankS**!


	3. It's Sunny In California

**Hello :D**

**I finally updated, and I'm hoping this story will turn out a lot better once Inuyasha and the gang get into the picture! Which will be very soon!**

**:)**

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Chapter 3

I woke up startled when the cab came to a stop. I rubbed my eyes and looked outside. It was still dark, but the never ending road had turned into a neat little neighborhood, filled with houses that looked like they belonged to the average, high class, american families. Seriously. It was the complete opposite of where I used to live. But I guess my little apartment on the seventh floor of a building in what is now one of the most dangerous parts of the city would rank pretty low compared to any home here in , California.

I grabbed my things from the trunk and just stood there, looking up at the house the cab had stopped in front of. It wasn't very big compared to the ones around it. In fact, the other houses made it look tiny. I had no idea what I was suppose to do. Knock?

Wait for someone to open up and say what?

'Hi, Im Kagome, you know, the daughter of your suicidal sister? Oh and by the way, I'm a former gang member. I'm into drugs, alcohol, and sex. Oh and also, I carry a pocket knife with me wherever I go. Just in case someone ticks me off. So where will I be sleeping?'

Ummm....maybe not.

But I knew I wasn't about to stand there for another few hours, so I managed to walk myself over to the front door and knock. I planned on keeping my mouth shut, though.

After a few seconds, the door opened. 'What the hell?' There was no one at the door.

"Who the heck are you?", said a tiny, somewhat squeaky voice. My eyes traveled down, and saw a head of orange hair staring up at me with humungous green eyes. I was at loss for words. The kid continued to stare at me like I was some sort of freak, until finally, he looked behind his shoulder and yelled, "Mommy! Theres a really wierd lady at the door! She looks like one of those retarded people we saw on TV last night! You know the ones they call 'special'?"

Did he just? Oh hell no.

"Who you callin retarded you-" I stopped midway when a lady appeared behind the kid. She looked to be in her thirties. She had short jet black hair that reached just above her chin. Her eyes were a deep ocean blue color. I froze.

She looked so much like my mom, and yet the warmth she gave from her smile was so unlike her. I remember the last time my mother smiled. Barely. The memory was so faint in my mind that it was almost unreal. Non-existent. I mentally laughed. 'What the hell am I thinking? She _never_...'

She disrupted me from my thoughts by reaching out and trapping me in a lung crushing embrace.

"Ohh you must be Kagome! Ohh I can't believe this!! The last time I saw you you were still in diapers! You really did grow a few inches huh? And so beautiful too! Im so glad you agreed to..." She continued rambling on and on, and like a dork I just stood there, listening with the blankest, dumbest look on my face. So this was my clinically depressed and desperate mother's sister? This super perky, bubbly lady was actually related to my mom? This was really my aunt?

I guess it was.

'Of course I would end up being born my mother's child and not this lady's..', I thought to myself.

"Of course...", I mumbled, the corners of my lips twiching into a smirk as I snorted at yet another unusual and inconvinient twist in my life. "What was that sweetie?"

"Oh..umm nothing...", shaking those cruel thoughts about my mother out of my head, I did my best to try and keep up with her speedy chitter chatter.

She helped me bring my things into the house, then carefully set them down my the staircase, saying she would take care of it later. "Kagome, this little guy here is my son, Shippo. Shippo, this is your cousin, Kagome Higurashi." Once again I looked down at the kid, no longer all that angry at him for calling me a retard. He stared up at me with his big ol' eyes for a few seconds before speaking. "Are you really my cousin?", he asked. I nodded. "Umm yeahh..I..I guess I am." I was expecting dissapointment and maybe another insult, and thinking back at it, the insult would have been better than what came next.

''Ohmygosh this is sooo cool!!! Shiori get down here hurry!!! Cousin Kagome's here and she's awesome!!!! Shiori where are you?!?!", he yelled after running upstairs in search of this Shiori person. The kid didn't even know me and he thought I was awesome. I couldn't help but smile. I guess he was a cute kid afterall. Though I wondered who this other person was.

My aunt began to show me around the bottom floor of the house, every few seconds exclaiming just how happy she was that I was there. Everytime she did, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not she knew about my old life. Whether she did or not, she spoke nothing of it. No questions or anything. 'Does she even realize she's giving a grand tour of her house to a criminal? To a complete fucken stranger?' Maybe she didn't at the time. Maybe she just didn't want to bring up the fact that I was bad news and that she was stuck with me.

"So what do you think, Kagome? I know its not exactly what you expected. This house is a tad small but its a wonderful home nonetheless. You'll survirve won't you?", she teased, smiling. "Well no, its really not at all what I expected..", I did'nt have very many expectations when I came here. That way there's no chance of dissapointment. But I was far from being dissapointed at the moment.

She walked me over to the kitchen and gestured me towards one of the stools on the island in the middle of it. "Why don't you have a seat? Are you hungry? I'll bet you are. That was a pretty long trip you had huh? And I know how terrible plane food is.." She was searching through some top cuppards, then finally pulled out a small carton. and turned on the stove. I watched her closely, wondering whether or not I was suppose to offer to help. Yeahh right. I knew fucken squat about cooking, but I was pretty good at heating up noodles. Well, in a microwave.

She began pouring the contents from the carton into a pot of water and placed it over the stove.

"So...what do you think about California so far? Is the weather here any diffrent from home?", she began stirring the contents in the pot.

I looked down at my finger nails and scoffed. I could feel her curious eyes on me afterwards. "What is it?" I kept my eyes fixed on my finger nails before answering.

"You're asking me about the weather?", I knew I had that annoyed look on my face, but I didn't care. This lady was just plain wierd, asking me about climate conditions when she knew...she knew she was talking to a murderer. She knew. I was positive she knew. She seemed surprised by my question. "Well yes, I see it as a simple way to start a conversation. We could talk about something else if you'd like. Hmmm...-"

I looked up at her. "Ummm I'm really not that hungry. Would it be okay if I went to bed?", she smiled warmly. "Of course, dear." I tried my best to smile back before getting up and following her upstairs, picking up my luggage along the way.

Down the very end of the hallway and to the left was where she told me my room would be. She opened the door and placed some of my belongings by the bed. She smiled, motioning over to the bed.

"I bought the bed covers when I heard you were coming. You like pink right?"

"Ummm...sure."

Her smile never faded as she said her goodnights. But before she left, she added, "Oh, and Kagome? I'm really glad to have you here.", smiling one last time, she finally closed the door, leaving me and my thoughts to ourselves.

Immediatley after she left, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number and waited. No one answered. I hung up and laughed at myself.

_Stupid dumbshit Kagome. _

Of course no one answered. For one, I was on the other side of America, so it didn't even ring. And also, because no one was home. I was calling my apartment number. Out of habit, or out of some need of comfort, I don't know. I guess I was so used to hearing the voice at the other end that I forgot it didn't exist anymore.

I put my phone next to me on the bed, afraid I would actually go as far as calling his cellphone number, like I usually did if he wasn't at the apartment.

Man, was I out of it.

I needed sleep. Very much so. I changed into something more comfortable then slipped under the covers of my new bed. I began thinking of the people I was living with.

My aunt, to be specefic.

She seemed like a nice lady. But people usually tend to be nice to me because they're scared of me. This lady knew I was dangerous and yet she was letting me live with her and her two kids. My first guess as to why:

She's as fucking lunatic as my mother.

* * *

I woke up the next morning feeling woozy. Probably because it had been a while since I slept for more than a few hours. By the time I had gotten downstairs, there was already breakfast on the table. I really had been hungry the night before. And now I was starving. As soon as Michiko [my aunt] saw me she smiled one of her genuine smiles and told me to have a seat at the table, where two little munchkins were currently attacking their plates. Slowly, akwardly, I sat down across from them, not sure whether or not I was suppose to say something. Shippo looked up at me after a while and smiled, nudging the other kid.

"See?", he began. "I told you she was here.", the other kid looked up from her plate at me. She had dark brown hair and eyes of the same color. She looked nothing like the boy, or the mother. 'Maybe she takes after her dad', I thought to myself. But then again, Shippo didn't look anything like his mother either. 'So then who?'

Michiko introduced the little girl to me, saying this was Shiori, her daughter. She then put my breakfast in front of me and I wasted no time in eating it. During breakfast the two little kids bugged me with the most random questions, and surprisingly enough I answered every one of them without pounding on them for being so annoying. I helped clean up afterwards, and again, I managed not to screw that over either. Later that day, Michiko offered for me to go out and see the town, she even offered to let me borrow her car. Yupp, she was crazy alright..

I went up to my room to shower, brush my teeth, and change. I headed downstairs, already having accepted her offer after a long moment of hesitation. She really did insist though. She said this would be her first impression on whether or not I was a responsible girl, then handed me the keys. Although I still had quite a few money left from my last little break in, I said nothing when she handed me some money. Well it's not as though I was going to tell her I had stolen money at the bottom of my luggage, right?

I got in her car and started driving around town, surprised by how easy going everyone looked around here. And it really was nice not seeing a hobo on every street corner. They used to make me feel really bad, but after a while the whole "feeling sorry for them cuz they live in a box" thing got kind of old. It's cruel, I know, but compared to everything else, one little comment was no big deal. Well, not to me anyway.

I passed by a couple thrift stores, an ice cream shop [which I definetley planned on checking out later], a McDonalds and tons of other places you would see in every town. There were teenagers everywhere, most of them in shorts and flip flops. It was sunny in California.

Big surprise.

After cruising around for a while I found a mall. I figured it would give me something to do for the next few hours, and it had been a while since I'd had fast food, so I was actually looking forward to it. Buying some new clothes probably wouldn't be such a bad idea either. It tended to rain a lot back home, but I still wore the same old baggy pants and tank tops that I was most comfortable in. I looked down at myself. I was wearing some old jeans, a gray wife beater and a black hoodie. Yeahh, some new clothes would be nice.

The inside of the building was pretty big. All over there was brand name stores, but most of them were the ones that I saw all the people my age wearing around here. Not exactly my style. At all. After a lot of walking around, I finally found some decent stores. Sure, a few of them belonged to American Eagle, Hollister and all that crap, but surprisingly, I found it looked alright on me.

At the very end of the mall I found a cute little vintage store, where I picked out some jeans, a pair of moccasins, and a cradigan. I wasn't the type of girl that liked shopping, especially not by herself, and it didn't help that I had received a few stares every now and then. While I was at one of the brand name stores, I sort of lashed out at one of the workers. It's not as though I wanted to do it, but her forced perky smile and fake blonde hair were really ticking me off. My patience was running pretty thin by the time I got to the food court, which was the one place I had been looking forward to all day.

The food court was filled with people, most of them looking about my age. They were all situated in their diffrent little cliques. Right away I was able to point out the preps from the skaters, the gangsters from the emos.

Damn wrist-slitting freaks.

I spotted a food place, ordered and took my food over to one of the tables, becoming more and more conscious about the fact that I was the only person sitting alone. Whatever, its not as though it was very likely I'd see any of these people again anyways..

As soon as I sat down, the whispering started. I could feel a lot more eyes on me now, coming from all around. The group to the right of me though, the one I referred to as the preps, were laughing it off at something one of their girls had said, and when she looked over at me, when they all did still cracking up, I knew they were talking about me. Well fuck..that's exactly what I need when I'm hungry, emotionally out of it, and a little bit pissed.

"Hey babe, how about bringing some of that hot stuff over here!", one of the guys called. I looked over at them, not at all affected by his compliment and looked for the guy, a bored look on my face. They were all snickering, saying something I couldn't quite hear, but when they all turned to look at me and laugh again, I knew it had something to do with me. By the looks of it, they were really trying to piss me off. That, or they were the kind of people that actually believed they had the authority to mess with people and get away with it. I began to study them a bit closer.

It was a group of about five or six in all, most of them dressed as thought they belonged in shopping magazines and catalogs. There were two guys at the end of the table. A very petite and rather slutty looking girl sitting on one of the guy's laps, her fake boobs occupying the guys attention as he whispered things into her ear. Next to them was a girl with short black hair, and I think she was the one that had been talking about me,she looked like a bitch from as far as where I was sitting. Next to her was another girl, only this one had very long black hair and gray eyes. She was sitting extremly close to the last guy, the one that caught my attention the most. He was also currently laughing, but when brown eyes met his gold [yes people, gold] ones, he stopped.

Saying that this guy was hot, extremly sexy and gorgeous would probably be an understatement. He was wearing a red long sleeve button up and jeans. We continued to stare at each other until the girl next to him pulled his face to hers, saying god knows what before kissing him. I scoffed, shaking my head and turned my attention back to the food in front of me. After a few moments I found myself looking back at the happy couple, only to find that guy staring back at me. With a big chunk of burger in my mouth, I flipped him off. Yeahh he was hot, but I wasn't into his type. His type being the preppy, bitchy, "I can have anything I want" type, and trust me when I say that they all looked the part. When he saw me shove my middle finger towards him he looked at it and smirked. Only it didn't seem like he was doing it to tick me off. He just sort of smirked and quickly truned his attention back to his girlfriend, who had been trying to get his attention from the moment I caught him staring.

I looked at them for a bit longer, watching as he talked to her, occasionally playing with a strand of her hair, both of them smiling. They looked like the perfect couple, looking as though they didn't have a care in the world, and I could almost hear my teeth as they clenched together.

Not a care in the world, and here I was carrying the whole damn thing on my shoulders. Whatever, it's not like it should really matter anymore anyways. My death bed could be waiting for me anywhere and I was sure I wasn't free yet, or if I ever would be. I had sworn into a life that would never let me be free, or so they had told me. Once you're in, you're in untill your last dying breath.

Freedom wasn't an option.

Freedom didn't even _exist._

But as I looked at the two, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous at the fact that I had missed out on so much in life, and knowing that I could never have that with a person, it was...it was pretty stupid actually. Who gives a flying fuck about love, or any of that shit. I sure as hell don't.

Nope.

"There she is right there!", someone shouted, I looked away from they two and towards all the yelling.

"Oh shit.", I mumbled when I saw a woman in an extremly short skirt and very fake hair. It was the same wannabe blonde that I had "lashed" out at. Well, when I mean I lashed out at her, I mean I called her a few innapropriate names then gave her a good puch in the face when she started talking back. Guess I forgot to mention that last part... Thinking back, maybe I had gone a little too far...well anyways, there she was standing with a black eye and two security guards on either side of her, both of them had their eyes set on me, and I knew I was screwed.

Wait a minute...nobody knew me here. Nobody even knew if I lived here or not, so I figured nobody would know I was staying with my aunt. I looked at the two guards. Kind of old, and pretty goddang fat. And if there was anything I liked it was outrunning an old police officer that looked as though he'd had one too many dohnuts in his life. There was two of them. Not even worth the good run, hell this wouldn't even be a challenge.

"It has been a while though..", I mumbled as I gathered my things and took off, and I almost laughed when I saw the extremly shocked faces of the preps still sitting at their table. The two guards had started after me, but I was already out the door.

I was halfway to the car when I realized I had forgot something. My half eaten burger was still sitting on my table, and I was not about to let it go to waste! I looped around the parking lot seeing the two guards already out of breath, but one of them had pulled out his walkie talkie so I knew I'd have to hurry if I wanted to avoid a car chase with these guys and have to face my dissapointed aunt afterwards. I leaped over one of the cars and ran back into the mall. Everyone's shocked and scared eyes were on me as I jumped over a few pulled out chairs that were in my way before finally reaching my table. I snatched the burger and fries from it and was about to start running back when I saw the two guards standing at the door. I took a bite of my burger and stared at them. They looked as though they were about to collapse from exhaustion.

This was just too easy.

I managed to look over at the prep table, or more particularly, the certain golden eyed guy sitting there. His eyes met mine one again, and this time I smirked. I became a bit more aware when a few more security guards came into view. Now these were tough looking guys, so I knew I'd have to book it out of there pretty soon. But there was something I wanted to do first, just for the kick of it. And hey, it wasn't as though I had anything to lose if I did get caught. Nothing in life was of any value to me anymore, except for myabe this burger..

So quickly, very quickly, before I had the chance to change my mind, I ran up behind the very sexy eyed man. I placed my hands on the back of his chair, brought my head down to his level [he was already looking my way] and planted a huge kiss on his lips. When I pulled away, he just stared at me, shocked, and let me tell you that the look on his girl's face was freaking priceless. Then, I got my ass out of there, knowing the whole time that as I leapt over more chairs, whizzed past the chubby guards and burst out the door, those golden eyes would be following my every move.

Was it worth all the trouble for half a burger and a kiss.

_Hell no._

But it sure as hell was fun to be my old self again, with not a care in the world, not a worry in my head.

Now that _was_ worth it.

Feeling _**free.**_

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**Well there you go!**

**Please R&R!!!**

**Tell me whatcha think so far por favor :)**


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